EUGENE, Ore., – I get a lot of feedback from readers and by far, the thing they say most often is that they see too much bad news, much too much negativity in the news sections and in editorials.
Gets them down, they say. One once told me she attacks all the bad, sad news stories in the paper with a magic marker and reads the rest. True story.
We journalists have a reputation of ghoulish news judgment, ignoring the Eagle Scout who saves a family of four from a lava flow in their living room for the Bull Moose that eats them all after said Scout makes the save.
Well, not here. Not today.
It would be easy to slam the 1-7 Washington Huskies, their 31-6 loss at Oregon Saturday and the UW offense, which looks as wobbly as Courtney Love on her birthday.
Oops. Sorry.
What we wanted to get across is that the UW defense is playing lights-out.
Forget the 31-6 score. Before it became exhausted from spending 36 minutes and 37 seconds on the field, it allowed 17 points in more than 31/2 quarters.
That’s good enough to beat anybody in the Pacific-10 Conference not named USC or Cal.
Dudes played their butts off.
* Linebackers Joe Lobendahn, Scott White and Evan Benjamin split 22 tackles, five for loss and 21/2 sacks.
* Defensive tackle Manase Hopoi, the conference’s leader in sacks and tackles for loss, had seven tackles, five unassisted and a sack.
* Safety Dashon Goldson, who came off shoulder surgery last spring and likely will have the other one operated on after the season, came up with an interception.
* Benjamin made the hit of the day, jolting tailback Terrence Whitehead into oblivion with a vicious smack as Whitehead attempted to catch a pass. The impact separated him from the ball.
* Safety C.J. Wallace continued his fine play with four tackles.
And maybe the best thing about it all is, no one’s satisfied.
“They scored,” Lobendahn said. “We’ve got to be better than that.”
A shutout? You want a shutout? In THIS league?
“We can’t let them score,” Lobendahn said. “We can’t let anybody score.”
But … isn’t it the offense’s job to score occasionally? It hasn’t scored a touchdown in nine quarters, not since the third quarter against Oregon State.
“If the offense doesn’t score, we’ve got to score,” Lobendahn said.
The Ducks, even with as many offensive tools as they have, sustained two long drives, both in the first half, that resulted in touchdowns. One came on their first drive, a 14-play, 80-yard beauty.
In the second half, the Huskies forced Oregon to punt on its first six possessions, even though the Ducks got the ball three times via interceptions. On four possessions in a row, the Ducks punted after just three plays. The total offensive output on those four possessions: minus-1 yard.
Yet, it wasn’t enough.
“We weren’t playing as good as we could,” Hopoi said. “We knew we had to step it up. We were down 17-3. We had to come out and make some plays and give our offense good field position.”
Great. Not only does the defense think it has to shut out the opposition, it also feels the need to get the offense the ball deep in enemy territory, giving it the shortest field possible.
OK, so then what happens?
In the first quarter, Oregon was detected with a facemask penalty on a punt return that gave the Huskies the ball on the Duck 26. THE 26! So the UW offense manages just 2 yards and settles for a field goal.
So doesn’t the defense want to throw eggs at the offense?
“I’m not frustrated,” said Hopoi, perhaps even meaning it, “but it tests us to see if we can get turnovers. We have a lot of talent, a lot of great players on our defense. We just have to go out there and make some plays.”
Good. Because the offense certainly can’t.
Oops. Sorry.
Forgot to be positive. Better black that out.
John Sleeper is The Herald’s college writer
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